His Horizon

His MM Romance, Book 1

By: Con Riley

Narrated by: Cornell Collins

Temperatures rise when there are two cooks in Jude's kitchen....

Jude's drowning when he can't save his family business single-handed. The last person he expects to throw a lifeline is Rob, a rival chef who once beat him to first place in a cooking contest.

Two chefs working together won't be easy. Not when Rob is everything Jude isn't - popular, extroverted, and a one-time hookup. What's worse is that Rob wears his heart on his sleeve while Jude's still in the closet.

Jude's dilemma doesn't end there. Rob's rescue package comes with conditions that mean sharing everything from the profits to Jude's sleeping quarters. Sleeping with the enemy will either be a disaster or signal a much brighter future, but only if Jude can meet Rob's final condition and love him in the open.

Featuring opposites who attract, rivals to lovers, and an out-for-you storyline dripping with hurt-comfort feelings, His Horizon is the first in a shared-world series of stand-alone MM romance novels from Con Riley.

Contains mature themes.

©2020 Con Riley (P)2021 Tantor

Painful to hear

Though very well read it is painful to hear. Almost dropped the book a few times since Cornell Collins was fighting with the text.
The history didn’t held much either. Jude the main character is as uptight and unreal.

Meh

This book was super ok. Didn't really hold my attention and the romance scenes were boring. The main reason I listened was it was free and I don't get my credit for another 2 weeks. Definitely won't purchase any from this author.

Lovely story

This was such an emotional story, with a surprising main character who shows up and does the hard work.
I really loved the ending.

Great Local Culture Story

I loved all the food descriptions, and the tremendous local culture Con Riley writes so well. Well written characters, with interesting dynamics. The twist with the dad's military buddy is a good one, I'd just have preferred a little bit different ending.

Beautifully narrated by Cornell Collins.

A Rollercoaster of Emotion

His Horizon is a book that gave me all the feels! Jude has been out at sea looking for his parents who were lost at sea during a horrific typhoon. He had to leave the cooking contest he was sure to win and he had to leave Rob just as things were starting for them.

While he was gone, the pub that his family owns suffered some damage along with their village and his sister Louise went to the one person she thought could help with money issues... Rob.

When Jude gets back to find Rob in his bed and slotted perfectly into a life he should have been there to live but couldn’t be, a barrage of things start to happen and Rob happens to be at the center of most of those. Rob was heart broken when Jude left without saying goodbye and had his own reasons for coming to help pick up the pieces and save the pub.

This book is full of hurt/comfort themes and watching Jude slowly let Rob into a place that he has never let anyone and start to lean on him was amazing.

Con Riley takes you on a journey of hope and loss, heartbreak and happiness, rediscovering the truth of things that you didn’t realize for so long, and most of all, love. The secondary cast of characters add so much to the story and you’re rooting for every last one of them. I cried many times while reading this book, but that’s because Con’s characters are so real and you can easily connect with them because they aren’t perfect, they make mistakes and they try hard to redeem themselves. They’re so well built that you fall in love with the whole story and not just one or two specific characters.

I highly recommend this story and I can’t wait for more to come in this shared universe! 5 huge stars from me!

Con and Cornell Collins - perfect!

This is my second time listening to His Horizon and I’m so glad I decided to revisit this book.
The local is the Cornish coast, the setting a small village. Unique in that the folks who live there are a combination of traditional, artistic, and dreamers. There’s they couple who buys a pub catering to English families touristing and camping along the summer beach. There’s the French artist family who moves in and creates a stir, the dour fisherman who brings the delectable fresh catch to the pub, and the locals who frequent the pub in off season.
Children are born , raised, educated. And come, or never leave. Parents who set sail in a handmade sailboat to revisit places they had visited when young and without kids.
Add in two chefs, a clash of different backgrounds, a bit of sex, a poignant story, and 12 hours of listening becomes a wonderful slice of life, of people I’d love to know.

A sweet start to the series

Having read several books from Con Riley's Learning to Love series, I wasn't sure about jumping into this one. Think of Con Riley as the other side of the looking glass to Garrett Leigh. Both decidedly British, two wildly different points of view. A huge fan of Leigh and the literal life or death gravitas of her stories, the handwringing nature of Riley's books can feel cloying and rooted in hurt feelings of the well to do. This starts off very differently from Charles, the first book of the Learning to love series.

Cornell Collins is to Riley, what Dan Calley is to Leigh. Collins gently lulls you to the Cornish costal town and the variety of characters who live there. He does a great job of individualizing everyone, even dipping into a pleasant bit of French for the character of Marc, a character who doesn't really become important until later in there story. Collins has a great repertoire of accents in his bag of tricks and adds a lot to all of Riley's books.

What sets this title apart from the other Riley's I've read is there is real pain and guilt driving Jude. Jude isn't manor born, struggling against perceived issues. Jude is a guy on a mission to find any sign of his parents who were presumed lost in a typhoon, while returning home to help keep the family business afloat before going back on the search. The premise is a bit of a stretch initially, but is handled very well with supporting storylines that nurse that initial disbelief into a fully workable plot. Riley smartly rips the bandages off early and allows this low angst love story to move forward consistently while the leads learn about each other and themselves. The plus being we don't have a waiting for the shoe to drop element to the romance. There are a lot of steps along the way, and not always smooth sailing, but always a willingness to figure it out together rather than getting mired in misunderstanding, or the like.

This sweet story should hit most, if not all the marks. Highly recommended!

5 stars!

Love this very romantic story between two stubborn men, and the narrator did a fantastic job as always. I highly, highly, highly recommend this book and I can’t wait to read more from Con Riley.

Con’s writing is inherently romantic and every word paints a picture. I felt like I was watching a movie as I read, easily visualizing each scene. Con definitely has a unique writing voice that is weighted with emotion. I didn’t just read or visualize every word. I felt it in my bones.

The story, relationship and characters are all raw and real. They’re imperfect people trying their very best. (Ok, and Jude is so clueless! That was my favorite detail of his character.) I was initially drawn into the characters, but very quickly became just as I invested in the overarching story. And the ending is fantastic!

Five Star Review for "His Horizon."

This is the best audiobook of the hundreds of all categories of literature, authors and narrators.
It may be the years with Covid-19. It may be the mixed up politicians, Supreme Court spouses, or false/ biased news information of the last decades in America.
I know author Con Riley and narrator provided a wonderful village, terrible weather damage in multiple locations of the world, and how many families were affected in so many ways.
I thank all who assisted in this production as I, a disabled Vet, await multiple procedures this week and summer.
"Contains mature themes."

Almost perfect

This is a lovely story, beautifully told. The characters are captivating and endearing. My only criticism is it could have been better as a novella. Sometimes “less is more.”